Will you get stronger on your compound lifts? Absolutely. But let’s make it clear up front: this is not a powerlifting routine.

There’s currently a gym-culture of forcing powerlifting programs down the throats of those who are more interested in improving their physique. When questioned, a circlejerk begins over how anyone who cares more about aesthetics than strength is just a pansy too scared to lift heavy weight.

Heavy compound movements are useful for hypertrophy, but looking down on others for their choice of goals is just childish. Different people want different things in life. Deal with it.

If you want to powerlift, this program is not for you. However, if you want to sculpt an attractive body, you came to the right place amigo. Let’s roll.

What makes this program unique?

This routine addresses a critical aspect of human nature often ignored by other programs: curiosity.

It’s natural to want to change a routine around. Small tweaks, here and there. The problem is that after a few months of “just small tweaks”, the routine becomes a disorganized mess. Or even worse, the individual becomes interested in the next flavor of the month, constantly hopping from program to program at the vaguest hint of faster progress.

In this routine, you will leave the core days (Sunday-Friday) alone. You are given one day to customize yourself, Saturday. You can do a day of forearms, one hundred curls, 5×5 bench press, bodyweight training, endurance cardio, hill sprints, I don’t really care. On Saturday you satisfy your innate need to constantly be changing things. After this flexible day, you are given a rest day to be fully recovered for the next week.

This extra day also has the added benefit of making the routine adaptable for any trainee. This means both beginners and advanced lifters can make optimal progress under this routine.

Most routines contain a set amount of volume, and as the individual becomes more advanced, they eventually need to switch to a new routine. Now you can adapt to the volume & frequency to suit your individual needs without potentially compromising results.

Advanced lifters can benefit from additional volume (especially to target problem areas) on their flexible day, while beginners can simply rest on their flexible day to better recover for next week’s cycle.

Core Principles:

The program is unique in it’s overall adaptability. However, the core routine is built around tried and true principles that consistently return the best results:

Both lower-rep/higher-weight and higher-rep/lower-weight sets are included to maximize hypertrophy.

Compound movements are performed at the beginning of the workout, generally with heavier weight & lower reps.

Accessory movements are performed after compound movements, generally with lower weight, and higher reps.

The core program is designed to work each muscle group twice per week. (Using the flexible day, individual “lagging” areas such as calves/deltoids can be targeted three times per week)

Your days are split into “Push” days, and “Pull” days. This allows you to focus your workout on muscle groups that compliment one another. For example, pull-ups are a compound movement that primarily work the Latissimus Dorsi (back muscles), with secondary recruitment of the biceps. You can then push your partially-fatigued biceps to failure with bicep curls after the compound movements.

The Routine:

If you’re wondering why each set is tracked individually refer to the “RPT & Set Notation” section below.

FAQ:

RPT & Set Notation:

In the routine, you may be confused that you don’t see the traditional “3×6-8 Bench Press” notation. This is because each set is allowed to move, and is tracked, independent of other sets. This allows for efficient progressive overload on your lifts.

I keep track of everything in the “Notes” app of my phone, but paper is fine. Here’s an example of what you could put into your phone one week:

You may notice the progression from heavier sets to lighter sets on your compound movements. This approach is sometimes referred to as Reverse Pyramid Training. The reason is because when you’re “fresh” you can more effectively train heavier/closer to your maximum weight, while the following sets are designed to fatigue the muscle groups.

Continuing our previous example, the next week you might write down the following:

As you can see, each set is allowed to progress independently. On your first set you added weight (since you reached the top of your rep window), and could completed 5 reps with the new weight. Your second set went up in reps with the same weight, and your last set stalled at 11 reps.

What should I do on my flexible day?

That’s entirely up to you.

As for what I would recommend, if you’re a beginner you should rest on your flexible day: you’ll need the additional recovery time. You could also use the day for recreational activities such as rock climbing, biking, calisthenics, etc.

If you’re an advanced lifter, you may benefit from additional volume and frequency. When bulking, use the day to target your “problem areas”: forearms, deltoids, calves, etc. When cutting weight, I would recommend using the day to rest for better recovery in preparation for next week’s cycle.

What about warm-ups?

Warm-ups aren’t included in the set notation above. You only need to warm-up for first one or two compound movements on each day. After that point, you’ll already be warmed up — there’s not point in warming up for your assistance lifts.

To warm up, I generally perform one set, using 50% of my working weight, for 5 reps. For example, if I normally deadlift 300 pounds, I would lift ~150 pounds for 5 repetitions before beginning my workout.

What do I do if I can’t perform a weighted pull-up or chin-up yet?

Your gym likely has what’s called an assisted pullup machine. I’ve attached a picture to the right, basically the machine uses counterweights to make pullups easier.

Work on lowering the amount of assistance weight used, then move on to bodyweight pullups. Once you reach the top of your rep window with unweighted pullups, you can start adding additional weight.

Why deadlift only once per week?

I recommend performing only one set of deadlifs per week (not counting your warm-up sets). Not out of laziness, or because I dislike deadlifts — in fact they are by far my favorite lift.

However, deadlifts drain your CNS like nothing else. Attempting to do three to five sets of deadlifts would severely impact your performance for the rest of your workout. Once you reach a certain working weight for deadlifts, performing the movement twice a week doesn’t offer enough recovery time to push yourself to the limit.

Furthermore, there’s no feeling like getting ready for a set of deadlifts and knowing that you have only one chance to break your record. If you fail, you must wait a whole week to try again. This fires up my adrenaline and helps me dial up the intensity like nothing else. It’s a great way to break records and start a workout.

Why are there no squats?

I did squats for my first few years of training. I am now transitioning away from them due to their tendency to disproportionately develop the adductors and vastus lateralis relative to the vastus medialis — resulting in thighs that are too small around the knee area. To correct for this, I’m adopting leg press over the squat.

Feel free to continue doing squats if you like them. Substitute them for the leg press, I simply prefer the leg press to avoid vertical spinal loading and to control the shape of my legs.

Can I substitute different lifts/movements?

Use your best judgement.

For assistance movements, feel free to switch to a preferred exercise if it targets the same muscle groups, keeping the same rep range. For example: hamstring curls aren’t a good substitute for deadlifts, but if you’d rather do T-Bar Rows instead of Cable Rows, that’s fine.

Why so much calf volume?

Calves are a weak point for most trainers, and benefit from the increased volume. I’ve written more in-depth about calf training here, if you want more insight into how I designed calf training into this routine.

What about diet?

I go in-depth into calorie-tracking and diet planning in this article. However, the basics are pretty simple. Eat a lot of protein every day. On your core workout days, eat more carbohydrates and less fat. On your rest days (this includes your flexible day, even if you go to the gym) eat less carbohydrates and more fat. Eat more calories on your core days than your rest days.

If you’re more interested in a few basic tips for losing weight, but don’t want to go into detail tracking calorie intake, this page would be more helpful to you.

What about supplements?

Supplements are mostly a waste of time and money, but there are some exeptions. For those interested, I’ve written a page on the subject: A Skeptical Guide to Supplements.

It’s a question of the ages: what rep range is best for building muscle? Before we begin, let me dispel a widespread myth. I often hear about the merits of sarcoplasmic versus myofibril hypertrophy. However, common knowledge on bodybuilding forums often does not always align with reality:

Sarcoplasmic vs. Myofibrillar hypertrophy? Perhaps you’ve heard those terms and even read information from some guru who says there are different types of ‘hypertrophy’. This is unadulterated garbage and anyone who has ever taken a course in muscle physiology, exercise physiology, or knows a little biochemistry would tell you so. There are no examples of where a muscle fibre hypertrophies with resistance training and the myofibrillar pool doesn’t grow but the sarcoplasm does. The next time you hear someone spouting off about sarcoplasmic hypertrophy you can tell them that no such thing exists. It’s a construct of bodybuilding forums. Hypertrophy is hypertrophy and strength is strength. -Stuart Phillips, Kinesiology PhD

I reckon this myth came about from observing the neural components of strength: feats of strength performed with relatively little muscle tissue. Ever seen those videos of a small-looking guy lifting a staggering amount of weight? Through neural adaption your body “learns” how to more efficiently fire the motor units located in your muscles. This process is also how new lifters gain surprising amounts of strength in the first few weeks of training.

In 2010, researchers from McMaster University of Ontario compared the muscle growth elicited from high-rep/low-weight programs to that of low-rep/high-weight programs. The study raised quite a ruckus when the results showed that a workout performed at 30% 1RM stimulated an equal post-workout response as workouts performed at 90% of 1RM. Both routines were performed until muscular failure.

You’ll see studies similar to this one thrown around the internet fairly frequently, however, separating useful information from the chaff is an important skill if you are looking to optimize your training.

Do not make the mistake of applying information from short-term studies into your long-term routine. The study listed above only looked at muscular growth 24 hours post-workout. It’s important to read the methodology of studies before leaping to conclusions. A variable that elicits higher growth 24 hours post-workout does not necessarily translate into a wise practice long term. Be vigilant with your skepticism, dear readers.

So, what Rep Range is Best for Building Muscle?

Current studies indicate that a mixture of both high and low rep ranges returns greater muscle growth than focusing on either in isolation.

To maximize muscle hypertrophy, an optimal workout should include both high and low rep ranges.

To reap the best of both worlds, use strength-focused lower rep ranges on compound lifts such as bench press, deadlift, chin-ups, etc. The higher rep ranges should be used on the various accessory movements in your routine (such as bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, etc).

The takeaway:

A mix of both high and low rep ranges is best for optimal muscle hypertrophy.

Why did Lisa dump me, is it because of my small calves? They’re the hardest place to add mass!
-Milhouse, The Simpsons

The calves are the literal Achilles Heel for many physiques. Let’s face it, calves are a problem area for many of us. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged his calves as his weak link for many years. Nobody wants chicken legs, so let’s discuss the anatomy, exercise, and optimal rep ranges needed to build a rocking set of calves.

Calf Basics:

Always perform a full range of motion on your calf movements. I see so many lifters in the gym loading up massive weight and only performing a half inch of motion. Attempt to achieve full ankle flexion and extension with each repetition: if you’ve been performing calf exercises with an incomplete range of motion, this will likely mean you’ll have to decrease your working weight. Nobody cares how much weight you can raise with your calves, the only thing people care about is if you have a decent looking pair of calves. When it comes to calf training, check your ego at the door.

Additionally, never “bounce” the weight quickly up and down. Doing so stores the tension in your Achille’s tendon (like a spring) without working the muscles in the calves. Slow and controlled throughout the entire movement.

Calf Anatomy & Exercise:

The major muscles your calves are the soleus, and the medial/lateral gastrocnemius. The two-headed muscle found on the upper calf is the gastrocnemius, and is the larger of the two. The soleus is smaller and runs underneath the gastrocnemius.

When looking to add mass to their calves, many lifters will assume that the standing calf raise is superior, since it will build the gastrocnemius — the outermost muscle. However, adding additional mass to the soleus will push the gastrocnemius outwards to visually “pop out”. This means that an optimal calf routine will incorporate both seated and standing calf raises.

A standing calf raise, performed with a straight leg, works both muscles, but primarily recruits the gastrocnemius. You can see a standing calf machine pictured to the right, but if your gym doesn’t have one, simply set up a smith machine with a block of wood underneath the balls of your feet. Rest the bar on your shoulders and perform the movement as usual.

A seated calf raise, performed with a bent knee, will also recruit both muscles, but bending the knee will relax the gastrocnemius, causing the soleus to take over as the primary muscle in the seated calf raise.

Best Volume for Calves

The calf is a small muscle that will also be worked indirectly through compound movements such as the deadlift, squat, or even just by walking throughout the day. As such, I would recommend performing between 50-60 repetitions per week of direct calf training. These repetitions can be split across your workout days and sets as you see fit, but I’ll go into a bit more detail below.

Given the recommended weekly volume for calves, you must divide that volume across your working sets. To determine the optimal rep range for calves, consider the physiology of each muscle:

Of all the factors contributing to progress, supplements have markedly less impact than a proper training regimen, sleep, or diet. They are by no means mandatory. Furthermore, you should be aware of the vested commercial interest in parting you from your hard-earned paychecks under false promises of faster results.

However, I tend to cook extremely simply, and eat mostly the same meals in various combinations. Many fitness-oriented individuals also have similar habits — eating countless meals of rice, chicken, broccoli, etc. Properly used, supplements can protect against potential long-term deficiencies from homogeneous diets.

Furthermore, various supplements may help in the pursuit of fat loss, muscle growth, hormone balance, or just to make your life easier. The following list contains supplements that I would personally recommend, but they are no replacement for a well-rounded diet.

Recommended Supplements:

Sidenote, take your supplements with the first meal of the day.

Calcium – Supplemental calcium is beneficial for increased fat losssource, and increased testosterone productionsource. In my opinion, calcium is one of the most underrated supplements in the fitness community.

My recommendation: Take one calcium pill per day, ideally with a meal. Supplemented calcium is especially helpful if you don’t consume much dairy or leafy greens daily.

Vitamin D– The second-most underrated supplement. Western populations are especially deficient in Vitamin D, since they are often confined to working indoors during peak sunlight hours. Emerging evidence repeatedly finds that Vitamin D is crucial for overall health & disease-preventionsource, along with optimal strength and athletic performancessource.

My recommendation: 4000IU/day during winter, 2000IU/day during summer time. I’ve always taken 1-2 pills of NatureMade Vitamin D3, depending on the season. I’ve also found that supplementing with Vitamin D also helps to minimize acne.

Branched Chain Amino Acid (BCAA) – On this site, I encourage fasted training. If you train on an empty stomach, take 10 grams before fasted training (roughly 2 teaspoons). BCAA is consumed to avoid muscle breakdown from fasted training & to increase p70s6 kinase phosphorylation, leading to increased rates of muscle growth.(source)

My recommendation: Take 2 teaspoons of this BCAA before you workout (lifting or cardio). Don’t bother with pills/capsules, powdered BCAA is the easier and cheaper option. Fair warning, it’s going to taste terrible, so don’t mix it with water. Put it near the back of your tongue with the teaspoon, and quickly wash it down with a glass of water.

Creatine – While I wouldn’t say creatine is “underrated”, it’s one of the most effective supplements to just about anyone looking to gain muscle. It’s one of the few legal (and safe) supplements with a plethora of research supporting it’s effectivenesssource. Creatine is miles ahead of the competition through it’s observed effects on encouraging satellite cell growth, direct performance enhancement through higher muscle creatine levels, and increased growth factor-1 signaling. Keep it simple and go with basic micronized powder, no need for anything fancy.

My recommendation: I take one teaspoon (5g) of this micronized creatine daily. Make sure to up your water intake if you begin supplementing with creatine. I see a lot of broscience malarky on the internet about making sure it’s fully dissolved, warm vs cold water, and a bunch of other sillyness. It’s all ridiculous, just get it to your stomach (doesn’t need to be dissolved in anything) and you’ll be fine.

Not Recommended:

Whey/Casein Protein: A needless expense. Furthermore, consuming additional protein/calories in a powdered shake is counter-productive to an attractive physique, I’ve written more about the subject here.

Fat Burning Pills/Powders: Along with being a waste of money, if they do work, they are essentially just stimulants. I would not recommend these at all, they make it difficult to fall asleep, and it’s unwise to rely on a crutch like a magic powder for your fat loss. A cup of coffee in the morning (or a few, if you’re my father) should be all you need.

Fiber: Eat your vegetables! It doesn’t really matter which ones; just find some that you like (corn/potatoes do not count) so that you actually keep it up. Supplemental fiber is no substitute for the real thing.

Acai Berry Extract/Whatever Fad Is Popular This Month: The world is filled with scam artists willing to take your money if you let them. Practice some skepticism, the supplement industry is a breeding ground of grifters and pseudo-scientists.

I hope you find the list helpful. If you have any questions, I’ll be available to answer them in the comments below.

Protein shakes are a firmly enshrined aspect of bro-culture. Living in a college town, I see them practically everywhere I go.

There are strong market incentives to convince consumers that purchasing X,Y, or Z product will provide unique benefits found nowhere else. Skepticism is vital, and doubly so in the fitness industry. When reading articles on the internet, always be asking yourself why or how something works. Do not trust sales pitches at face value; do your own research. Most websites on the internet are trying to make money from you in some way.

Now that we have our tinfoil hats on, let’s go over some of the myths peddled by the protein-shake hucksters, why protein shakes are a poor choice, and what to do about it.

Myth #1: You must ingest protein within a 45 minute post-workout anabolic window

Do you really believe that immediately following your workout, your body beings a 45 minute doomsday countdown to total muscular emaciation?

I’ll write more on this subject soon. But this claim needs to be briefly addressed for all the bench-bros out there who frantically mix a protein shake in the locker room post-workout.

Origin of Claim:
Studies on protein shake consumption show wildly differing results depending on the methodology used. Here are three studies that at first glance report completely different results; but remember to look into how a study is designed before leaping to conclusions.(source, source, source)

Protein powder manufacturers simply cherry-pick the study most favorable to their products, shout the results from the mountaintops, and ignore the rest. The average individual can’t be bothered to read into the methods used in a given study, so they often simply accept what the salesmen say and later repeat it to their friends and internet forums. Thus a widely-held myth is born.

Reality:
One of the most common shortfalls of protein study methodology is that protein intake is not controlled for. Take anyone on a low-protein diet, ram some additional liquid protein down their gullet twice a day, and you will observe greater muscle hypertrophy. That result does not, however, lead to the drawn conclusion that a protein shake 20 minutes post-workout is more effective than a chicken breast one hour post-workout.

Last year, a meta-analysis of available studies showed that the oft-repeated anabolic window claims are generally false.(source)

“In conclusion, current evidence does not appear to support the claim that immediate (≤ 1 hour) consumption of protein pre- and/or post-workout significantly enhances strength- or hypertrophic-related adaptations to resistance exercise. The results of this meta-analysis indicate that if a peri-workout anabolic window of opportunity does in fact exist, the window for protein consumption would appear to be greater than one-hour before and after a resistance training session.”

To sum it up: eat a high protein post-workout meal (ideally with some carbohydrates) and you’ll be fine. No need to rush.

Myth #2: The human body can only absorb 30g of protein per sitting

Few people have the time to prepare 4-5 small meals throughout the to meet their daily protein goal, so those who believe this myth often turn to protein shakes between meals.

Let’s put the claim to the common sense test: do you think that your ancestors complacently ate tiny meals throughout the day to properly absorb their protein, or sat down to a huge meal of nuts, meat, and vegetables after a few hours of hunting and gathering? Do you think the human species would have survived if we could only absorb nutrients from less than a handful of meat at a time? This claim simply makes no logical sense.

You have better things to do than worry about your protein intake every few hours.

Origin of Claim:
This myth started making the rounds following a 1997 study on protein absorption rates.(source) The study found that 30g of whey protein was fully absorbed after 3-4 hours. From this study, a few readers drew the conclusion that you must consume around 30 grams of protein every few hours to supply a steady stream of amino acids to your muscles.

However, this conclusion makes no sense. In the exact same study, casein protein was still being absorbed at the conclusion of the experiment 7 hours later. As such, A steak eaten with some broccoli would likely still be releasing protein 10+ hours after consumption.

Reality:Your body can regulate the speed at which protein moves through your digestive tract in order to properly absorb the protein needed.(source)To help calm your nerves even more, studies have shown that subjects consuming their daily protein intake within a 4 hour window, followed by 20 hours of fasting, had no reduction in strength or muscle hypertrophy.(source)

Protein Shake Drawbacks

This is due to whey’s insulin-stimulating effects in conjunction with the base estrogen content of the product. Soy milk/protein contains phytoestrogens that cause acne through similar mechanisms.

Satiety
Protein shakes have low levels of satiety. In other words, 300 calories of chicken breast or steak is a hell of a lot more filling than 300 calories of a protein shake. You should be eating your calories, not drinking them. Consuming foods with low satiety rates will result in one of the following:

You will naturally consume more calories than your body needs, leading to unnecessary fat gain.

Even if you meticulously count your calories, you will still remain hungry after hitting your calorie target for the day. This sucks, leads to dietary cheating, which eventually results in slower progress.

Alternatives

Simple. Eat beef, fish, or chicken as part of your post-workout meal.

There’s no need to worry about protein absorption if you don’t have the time to prepare 6 small healthy meals. I only eat one meal a day when I’m cutting, and have observed no negative impact on my progress. Not having enough time to cook does not mean you should to start drinking protein shakes; simply eat a single large meal at the end of the day.

I suspect this status quo was spawned from commercial interests and constant repetition. Think about it this way: if cereal marketing firms can successfully convince consumers that eating breakfast is critical for health/weight control/fat loss, the entire sector stands to benefit from increased sales.

Working adults likely do not have the time to cook and eat a healthy meal every morning before work, so they turn to cereal as a quick fix. There’s little counterbalancing commercial incentive to counter the claims by convincing the population that everything would be just peachy if they skipped breakfast. I’m not about to take out a commercial on daytime television informing the public about the health benefits of intermittent fasting, and neither is Kellogg’s.

Once an idea has successfully become ingrained in the public opinion, it becomes relatively difficult to change.

Despite all that, you dietary counter-culture rebels are still with me. In this article, let’s look at what intermittent fasting is, if it’s effective, the pros/cons of intermittent fasting, and how to start. Let’s go!

What is Intermittent Fasting, anyway?

Intermittent fasting is the consumption of your daily calories within a compressed window. Most of those who practice intermittent fasting skip a traditional breakfast, eating their food in an 8-hour window from 12pm-8pm. Outside of that window, no food or drink (other than water, tea, or black cofee) can be consumed. Eight hours is not set in stone: some choose a 6 hour window (myself included), while others only eat in a 4 hour window.

When I bring this up for the first time, I’m immediately barraged with the usual responses:

You need to begin your days with a healthy breakfast to get your metabolism firing first thing in the morning!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Calories eaten at night turn right into fat!

In due time, dearest reader. Before we go busting up conventional opinions, let’s discuss the basics.

How does Intermittent Fasting Work?

“So, I just eat less calories from skipping breakfast, and that’s what leads to the weight loss?”

Sort of. Eliminating breakfast allows you to consume more calories in your other meals while still maintaining a caloric deficit and feeling satiated.

That is not the only factor, however. Intermittent fasting results in a few noteworthy physiological effects such as hormonal optimization, increased rates of fat loss, improved insulin sensitivity, among other benefits.(source)

The key idea to understand about intermittent fasting is that your metabolism operates differently in a fed state versus a fasted state.

As soon as you eat, your body spends a few hours digesting the food and burning it’s energy.During this “fed” period, your body chooses to tap into the energy stored in your blood stream (especially if you consumed carbohydrates) rather than your previously stored energy supplies — fat cells. During the “fasted” state, your body does not have the readily accessible energy (glucose) in your bloodstream, so it is forced to burn the only available fuel: your bodyfat.

To maximize the amount of time that your body spends burning those fat cells for energy, simply cut out the first meal of the day to increase your time spent in the “fasted” state. This results in naturally easier caloric restriction in addition to the previously mentioned metabolic benefits.

Why does conventional wisdom recommend the opposite of intermittent fasting?

In short, because studies are constantly misinterpreted. Time to engage in a quick smackdown of the common “gotchas” against intermittent fasting:

Myth #1 – “Skipping breakfast makes you fat.”Skipping breakfast is associated with higher weight in the overall population. Let’s put on our critical thinking hats on. It’s possible that in the general population, those who skip breakfast are just grabbing a baked good from Starbucks or a bagel from home to eat on the commute to work. Avoid drawing conclusions from headlines, and consider what the actual study had to say:

“These groups appear to represent people on the run, eating only candy or soda, or grabbing a glass of milk or a piece of cheese. Their higher BMI would appear to support the notion that dysregulated eating patterns are associated with obesity, instead of or in addition to total energy intake.”

It’s also possible that those who are skipping breakfast are already trying to lose weight, so individuals displaying the behavior are already heavier than the general population. I could perform a study on caloric intake vs. weight, and I guarantee you that those who are currently at a caloric deficit weigh more than the general population, due to both overweight dieters and those who go to the gym & methodically cycle their caloric intake. However, it would be absurd to use my study’s findings to imply that a caloric deficit makes you overweight.

Myth #2 – “Eat many small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism healthy.”This myth originates from a misunderstanding of “TEF” – Thermal Effect of Food. Your body expends energy to break down food, absorbing the energy stored within to receive a net energy surplus. Those who advocate for frequent eating assume that constantly digesting food results in greater TEF, thus a higher resting metabolism.

TEF, however, is not effected by meal frequency. You cannot trick your body into burning extra calories by eating more often to “stoke the metabolic fire”. TEF is measured in direct relation to the amount of calories consumed, not to the timing in which those calories were consumed. Consider the findings of this conclusive review of meal frequency’s effect on TEF:

“Using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure, there was no difference found between nibbling and gorging caloric intake.”

In fact, your metabolism actually benefits from periods of intermittent fasting. After short to moderate periods of fasting, epinephrine secretion encourages heightened brain activity, prompting our body to move around — spurring ancestral humans to seek out and hunt food. This effect results in additional metabolic expenditure from intermittent fasting, not less. Your body has evolved to raise your metabolism while fasting to ensure peak hunting performance, while multiple days of fasting encourages your body to begin slowing down your metabolism to conserve energy for survival.

Myth #3 – “Eat small meals frequently for appetite control.”
Eating frequently throughout the day does not help curb hunger. After eating a large amount of food in one sitting, your body secretes leptin: a hormone telling your brain that you are full and can stop eating. When you graze throughout the day in place of larger meals, your stomach is never full, and leptin secretion will be low. This naturally leads to overeating.

This recent study found that fewer meals led to greater satiety and appetite control when compared to six smaller meals (holding calories equal). Useful side note: the study also found that increased levels of satiety were associated with higher protein intake intake (1.4g protein per kg of bodyweight) when compared to moderate protein intake (0.8g protein per kg of bodyweight). However, our key takeaway from this study:

Myth #4 – “Blood sugar levels are best controlled with frequent small meals.”The glucose in your bloodstream is regulated by your body subject to entrained meal patterns. Will your blood sugar be lower if you skip breakfast one day? Yes, it will. However, if you skip breakfast regularly your body becomes entrained to not expect food at 7am like clockwork every day, through ghrelin and other metabolic processes.

Blood sugar levels are directly tied to the meal pattern you choose. There is no need to fear long-term blood sugar issues & daily hunger problems from regular periods of fasting. Your body will fully adapt to the new schedule after a week or two.

Myth #5 – “You won’t be able to focus if you skip breakfast.”Your mental clarity is not a glass butterfly that shatters upon not eating for 4 hours. Your stomach may growl for the first week, but your distraction will subside once you’re used to the new eating pattern. The epinephrine mentioned earlier promotes increased mental clarity.

This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. When humans needed to hunt or search for food, their body adapted to expend additional energy, ensuring their thinking was as sharp as possible. The human species would not have lasted very long if we lost our ability to think critically any time we missed a meal. Once you are fed, your immediate needs are satisfied, and your focus can relax somewhat. Anecdotally, those who try intermittent fasting often report increased levels of productivity in their morning fasted state. It’s the perfect time to get any creative work done, especially with a steaming cup of tea or black coffee.

Myth #6 – “You won’t build muscle as effectively if you fast.”I’ve already written extensively on how to build muscle while intermittent fasting, so let’s keep this section brief. I train fasted, which is not mandatory, but can be beneficial.

Myth #6.1 – “You should eat protein every 2-3 hours”/”You can only absorb 30g of protein per meal”

A boldfaced lie, cherrypicked from misinterpreted studies to sell protein powders. Would human beings who could only absorb 30 grams of protein at a time last very long in the wild? Nope. If that’s not enough to convince you, here’s a study showing that after a meal, protein is still being absorbed at a rate of ~30g/h after 5+ hours. 30 grams per hour * 5 hours = at least 150 grams of protein absorbed per meal. This is a non-issue.

Myth #6.2 -“Fasting will cause you to metabolize your muscle tissue”

Why on earth would your body burn valuable muscle tissue before stored body fat? This makes no logical sense, but I still hear it every once in awhile. To calm your nerves, this study shows that regular fasting positively benefits body composition. My choice of fasted training is a bit more controversial than simply intermittent fasting, but that is a topic for another day.

Myth #6.3 – “You won’t be able to train as hard fasted”

Here’s a study showing that strength training is not negatively impacted by intermittent fasting. This study found that fasted training results in greater levels of p70s6 kinase/muscle synthesis.

Should I start Intermittent Fasting?

Only you can decide whether or not to give it a go. Don’t blindly follow advice from anyone, including myself: personally, I recommend that you give intermittent fasting a try. I also recommend that you assume I’m full of crap, and to look for well-articulated views on the contrary.

As for what the public thinks, one thing that I’ve noticed in my years on this earth: the most successful in life are often the individuals who shrug off public opinion in favor of their gut instinct.

That said, there a few primary reasons that I gave intermittent fasting a try for the first time around two years ago. I’ve stuck with it ever since, so perhaps you may find my reasoning useful.

It’s simple. Avoid unnecessary complication in your life. Too many people get hung up on analyzing every little detail, planning, re-planning, re-re-planning, all while no progress is being made. Intermittent fasting is a simple tool for a simple goal: eat your calories in a condensed timeframe to lose fat. Straightforward and effective. No pills, no snake oil.

It allows you to focus on what’s important. It’s liberating to be unconcerned when you are next going to eat. Busy with something interesting? You can skip breakfast or lunch without a problem, you’re ready for it.

Many people are constantly thinking of what they are next going to eat. Sometimes they finish breakfast, only to begin pondering what they will have for lunch. This is a distraction, and you have better things to think about.

It works. Intermittent fasting naturally leads to the caloric restriction necessary for fat loss. Additionally, you also reap the various physiological benefits discussed earlier.

There’s also a psychological effect I have not yet mentioned: tiny meals scattered throughout the day are lame. It simply feels right to sit down to a massive meal to break your fast — especially if you just finished a workout. This is the way your body evolved to function. You were not designed to wake up in a hurry, quickly shovel some FruitFlakes down your throat, and grab an energy bar on your way out the door to greet rush hour traffic.

It saves time & money. Congratulations, you now have an extra half hour of time in the morning now that you no longer need to cook or eat breakfast. Also, no more wasting money on high-margin junk food in airports, coffee shops, or convenience stores.

How do I start?

Simply condense your eating window. That’s really the only step. Here’s some quick advice to get you started.

Choose a certain time window to eat. Noon until 8pm works best for those new to intermittent fasting. Aim to start eating at roughly the same time each day, since this makes getting used to the fast easier.

Hunger hormone (ghrelin) becomes entrained to release at certain times of the day. If you break your fast at noon each day, your body will learn to release ghrelin to become hungry at that time.

An 8 hour window works best for those just starting out, but no need to freak out over the timing: an 8.5 hour window one day won’t be the end of the world.

The only acceptable things to consume during the fasting window are water, zero-calorie tea, and black coffee.

Consuming fat, protein, or fibrous vegetables for your last meal can all help to reduce hunger the following day. An especially useful trick if you’re in a caloric deficit.

Assuming that you’re not making other dietary changes, eventually your natural rate of fat loss will plateau. No need to be afraid of this, unless you desperately wanted to weigh negative sixty pounds after a few years.

When this happens, I recommend you give this article a read if you’re averse to counting calories, but want to kick-start the fat loss once more.

If you workout: do so fasted, and break your fast with a pile of carbohydrates & protein post-workout for the best results.

A longer eating window helps to get your daily calories in without rushing to shovel food down your throat. Personally, I aim for a feeding window of 6-8 hours while bulking.

A shorter feeding window works best to feel more satisfied on a caloric deficit. I aim for a feeding window of 4-6 hours while cutting weight.

I’ve been steadily gaining muscle with intermittent fasting for over two years now. This page is a comprehensive guide on how to do so.

You will find less citations & explanations here than my usual articles; you can find those scattered throughout the site. I wanted to keep this page as concise as possible.

This page is not meant to convince you of anything. It serves only as a straightforward guide on the fundamentals of gaining lean muscle through intermittent fasting.

Intermittent Fasting Basics

If you’re male, consume all your calories within an 8-hour window and fast for 16 hours daily. Females are better suited to a 10-hour feeding window, fasting for a 14 hours daily.

If you are male, an example schedule would be to break your fast with lunch at 12pm, eating until 8pm.

From 8pm until 12pm the next day (the fasting window) only consume water, zero-calorie tea, and black coffee. No food, sodas, or juices.

You don’t have to be neurotic with the timing, but it’s best to keep it close to the above guidelines. I encourage experimenting with the timing of the fast to find what works best for you: I personally stick to a a 6-hour eating window daily.

#1 – Fasted Training

Start a free-weight training program if you have not already.

For best results, perform your physical training near the end of your fast, on an empty stomach. A study from the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that fasted training resulted in a greater post-workout response than those who trained on a full stomachsource.

However, the effects of pre-workout protein intake have been well-documented. To get the best of both worlds, you can supplement with 10 grams of branched chain amino acid (BCAA) immediately before your workout for optimal muscle growthsource. This is by no means mandatory, but I’m aware some of you are intent on milking out the maximum possible natural growth per month.

If you do end up supplementing with BCAA, choose a powdered form like the one I linked instead of tablets (which are more expensive/more hassle). It’s going to taste terrible, and the recommended dose is two teaspoons. What I do is take the teaspoon, drop it near the back of my tongue, and quickly wash it down with water.

#2 – Calorie Intake

First, go to this calorie calculator. If your main source of exercise is going to the gym, select Somewhat Active. Only select Active/Very Active if you train daily for athletic events (swimming, track, etc), or work a manual labor job. I routinely see people overestimating the amount of calories that they need to consume.

Use the number the calculator reports as your starting estimate for your daily caloric maintenance level.

Weigh yourself every morning, after you go to the bathroom, but before eating/drinking anything (ensuring the most accurate result). Track your weight in an Excel/Google Docs spreadsheet.

Smartphone apps such as MyFitnessPal make it easy to track both calorie & macronutrient intake with little hassle. I’ve been using this food scale for two years now to make estimating volumes easier and more accurate. When weighing meat, weigh it raw, rather than after you cook it.

Option #1) Lose fat slowly, Build muscle slowly: Recomposition

Often simply called a “recomp”, this option maintains the same weight while slowly building muscle and losing fat. No weekly caloric surplus or deficit. Only intermittent fasting, macro-nutrient cycling, and caloric cycling.

This allows “skinnyfat” beginners wary of gaining additional body-fat to get started with weightlifting. Beginners can build muscle easily while losing their bodyfat, and when their progress eventually slows they can rotate between bulking and cutting cycles.

The downside to recomposition is that you make much slower progress. How far can you really progress when you stay 135 pounds for months on end? It is for this reason that I do not recommend recomps to any trainer beyond a beginner level.

If you choose recomposition, your weekly calorie intake should match the maintenance level the calculator above gave you, and you want your weight to stay the same (adjusting your calories every two weeks to try to “zero in” on maintaining the same weight).

However, for daily intake, you want higher calories on workout days, lower calories on rest days. This is where the “calorie cycling” comes in. It’s up to you on how to divide the calories up, but here’s an example with a 2000 calorie maintenance.

Monday (Workout): 2000 + 200 = 2200 calories

Tuesday (Workout): 2000 + 200 = 2200 calories

Wednesday (Rest): 2000 – 266 = 1734 calories

Thursday (Workout): 2000 + 200 = 2200 calories

Friday (Workout): 2000 + 200 = 2200 calories

Saturday (Rest): 2000 – 266 = 1734 calories

Sunday (Rest): 2000 – 266 = 1734 calories

AVERAGE DAILY CALORIES = 2000 calories

Option #2) Lose fat quickly, Retain Muscle: Cut

Refer to this picture to roughly determine your bodyfat percentage. If you lose weight at the rate listed below, you will preserve your strength during the cut, and perhaps even slowly gain some. Women & shorter males should aim for a slightly slower weekly loss than the figures listed.

>20% bodyfat – 2 pounds weight loss per week

12-19% bodyfat – 1 pound of weight loss per week

<12% bodyfat – 0.5-0.75 pounds of weight loss (lower end will be trickier and will have slower progress, but will retain the most lean tissue)

For example, let’s say that you are 15% bodyfat, and aiming for 1 pound of fat loss per week. One pound of weight loss is roughly equal to a 3500 calorie deficit, so aim for a 3500 weekly deficit to lose roughly one pound of fat per week. Alternatively, a 1750 calorie could be used to lose a half pound of fat per week.

Eat at maintenance calories for your workout days, and divide the rest of the needed deficit between your rest days. An example diet with a 2300 calorie maintenance, aiming for a weekly deficit of 3000 calories:

Monday (Workout): 2300 calories [0]

Tuesday (Workout): 2300 calories [0]

Wednesday (Rest): 1300 calories [-1000]

Thursday (Workout): 2300 calories [0]

Friday (Workout): 2300 calories [0]

Saturday (Rest): 1300 calories [-1000]

Sunday (Rest): 1300 calories [-1000]

Adjust your calorie intake if your weight loss doesn’t reflect your expectations. For example, if your weight loss plateaus for two weeks in a row, you could subtract 100 calories every day from your intake.

If you’re exceedingly hungry during your cut, you may find advice from this page useful.

Option #3) Build Muscle, Minimal Fat Gain: Slow Bulk

Another mistake that I commonly see is for trainers to bulk too quickly, gaining fat and muscle in equal portions. They consume at a needlessly high caloric surplus, gain too much fat during their bulks, waste time burning it off later, and are often disappointed with spending so much time at higher bodyfat percentages.

What rate of weight gain should you be aiming for? The answer depends on how long you’ve been training.

A trainee with less than 2 years experience can expect to naturally build 2 pounds of lean muscle per monthsource. That means the most you should aim to gain is 2 pounds of weight per month. Some of this may be fat but most will be muscle if you follow a half-decent program.

One pound of weight gain is roughly equal to a 3500 calorie surplus. Since we are aiming for a half pound of weight gain per week, our weekly surplus is going to equal +1750 calories.

Note: If you have more than 2+ years of proper training, you will not be able to put on muscle as quickly as a new lifter. For you, I would recommend slower gains: a 1000-1250 caloric surplus per week. You will have to track your intake carefully.

As for daily intake, eat at maintenance calories on your rest days. Divide your caloric surplus evenly among your workout days. For example, if you work out four days a week with a 1750 calories surplus: 1750/4 = 437 calorie surplus every workout day. If the calculator above gave you 2300 calories as your maintenance levels, here’s an example of what your week may look like:

Monday (Workout): 2737 calories [+473]

Tuesday (Workout): 2737 calories [+473]

Wednesday (Rest): 2300 calories [0]

Thursday (Workout): 2737 calories [+473]

Friday (Workout): 2737 calories [+473]

Saturday (Rest): 2300 calories [0]

Sunday (Rest): 2300 calories [0]

Adjust your calorie intake if your weight change doesn’t reflect your expectations. If your spreadsheet shows that you are gaining weight at a rate greater than what you were aiming for (for two weeks straight) scale your calories back. If your weight gain has stalled for two weeks straight, consider increasing your calorie intake.

Between Bulk & Cut Cycles:

When you’re finishing a bulk and are ready to cut, or are finishing a cut and are ready to bulk, spend two weeks in the “recomposition” stage before switching — with weekly caloric intake equal to your maintenance levels. This gives your metabolism some time to adapt to the new level of caloric intake.

Step #3: Macronutrient Cycling

Now that calorie cycling is out of the way, it’s high time to address macronutrient cycling. There are three macros: fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

Cycling macros allows you to maximize the muscle-building benefits of carbohydrates on your workout days, and the hormone-production benefits of fat intake on your rest days.

The exact percentages each day are not important. Your number one priority is to hit your protein intake goal, then fill in the remaining calories with fat/carbohydrates depending on if it’s a workout day or a rest day.

The simplest changes often return the greatest results. Today I’m going to share five straightforward approaches to beginners looking to lose weight without counting calories.

Fat Burning Basics:
Your body weight is determined by a simple equation: “Calories in = Calories out”. For your body to burn the energy stored in fat, you must reduce your caloric intake below the maintenance level. Counting calories is a straightforward approach to this, but it’s possible to cut fat without doing so.

Important Note: Although it does help, cardio alone does not guarantee that you will lose weight. This is because the increased activity can stimulate ghrelin (hunger hormone) secretion, encouraging you to consume additional calories.(source) Exercise is a vital component of overall health, but for sustained fat-loss without tracking calories, it’s critical to address diet & other behaviors.

Eat Meat & Vegetables

The first step is to focus on consuming foods with a low caloric density: foods that take up a large amount of space in your stomach (making you feel full) relative to their calorie content. In other words, eat more meat and vegetables. This is not groundbreaking, but most people still don’t do it. Don’t be one of those people.

It doesn’t really matter what vegetables you choose, but I recommend choosing the ones you like to ensure you actually stick with it.

My favorites are carrots, green beans, and broccoli. Potatoes and corn do not count, due to their high caloric density.

Avoid overly processed foods for the same reason. They take up little space in your stomach for the amount of calories they contain. Stay away from pastas, bread, candy, ramen, etc.

Get your calories from solid foods; the liquid calories found in sodas, juices, and milk are mostly devoid of micro-nutrients, and will not leave you as full as whole foods.

Convenience & TasteA common complaint is that healthy cooking takes too much time. Life is all about priorities, my friend, but you are in luck. Vegetables don’t take any real preparation time.

Carrots, just eat those suckers. Get a steamer bowl to easily steam green beans (or other veggies) in the microwave. You can buy broccoli in frozen bags that only need to be microwaved for a few minutes. You don’t even need to clean dishes. Being busy is no excuse.

Side note: Don’t buy baby carrots. Buy the long ones straight from the ground. The regular carrots are tastier, and last weeks longer than baby carrots (which they coat in an additive that turns them slimy in a week or two).

Veggies too bland for you? Then use some creativity with your spices, or just Google what to do. Pepper, salt, ginger, lemon, and garlic are some basic seasonings to begin making your vegetables more interesting.

MeatIncrease your protein intake. Per calorie, protein has higher satiety than either carbohydrates or fatsource. You will feel more full and satisfied from eating 300 calories of steak than you would from eating 300 calories of apples or peanuts.

Do not cut fats entirely out of your diet, unless you’re keen on your natural hormone production going haywire. This means a fatty cut of meat or a handful of nuts now and then is not harmful.

Drink More Water

Drinking more water helps to reduce overeating. A recent study found that drinking water before a meal directly benefited the rate of weight loss observedsource. Refer to the linked source or the image below.

In addition, studies repeatedly find that drinking more water increases your natural resting metabolismsource. To help accelerate fat loss, I would recommend aiming for 1 gallon per day of water intake.

I like to fill up a milk gallon with water in the morning, drink enough to quench my morning thirst, and put the rest in the fridge. I polish off the rest of the gallon throughout the day with meals, or by filling up my water bottle.

Increased water consumption also dissuades you from drinking calorie-dense liquids like sodas, milk, juice, etc. The rising popularity of these empty calories are one of the primary reasons that Western obesity is increasing over timesource.

Get More Sleep

Inadequate sleep drastically raises the risk of obesity, especially if you’re youngsource. When you’re sleep deprived (which around two thirds of Americans are), your body craves additional energy in the form of food. You’re hungrier from heightened ghrelin secretion, all while taking longer to feel full from lower leptin levels. A perfect storm for natural overeating.

If you’re looking to lose fat without counting calories, getting a full night’s sleep should be one of your highest priorities.

Besides, you should be getting a full night’s sleep for increased mental clarity & productivity anyways. I’ve met a few people who insist that they can function perfectly fine while sleep deprived. I’ve also met many drunks who insisted they could drive home perfectly fine while stumbling across the lawn. If you’re sleep deprived, your cognitive and physical skills will be negatively effected, and there ain’t two ways about it.

Resistance Training

In their endless pursuit to burn fat, most dieters stick to just diet and cardio. However, strength training is a useful tool that is neglected all too often.

First, strength training burns a greater amount of calories post-workout than cardiosource. This is primarily due to three factors: the “Afterburn”/EPOC effect increasing your metabolism after your exercise, lactic acid’s effect on glycolitic ATP turnoverwiki, and the energy needed for muscle hypertrophy (repairing/creating new muscle tissue).

Lastly, strength training has been shown to control ghrelin secretion, regulating hunger levels, and lowers insulin resistance. If all that wasn’t enough, the muscle tissue built through resistance training increases your resting metabolism by innately burning additional calories throughout the day.

Intermittent Fasting

An interesting strategy for fat loss is to condense your eating window. This is often called “Intermittent Fasting”.

If you’re looking to lose weight, I would recommend consuming all of your calories within an 8 hour time window. For example, eating only from 12pm-8pm is a great start.

Skipping breakfast is recommended over cutting out dinner. I like to be able to eat lunch & dinner socially with friends and family. Furthermore, it’s easier to get used to skipping breakfast than going to sleep on an empty stomach.

Something to keep in mind: calories found in drinks and cream/sugar for coffee can also only be consumed in the 8-hour period. Water, zero-calorie tea, and black coffee are acceptable to drink outside the 8-hour window.

How does intermittent fasting work?
You are able to eat larger portions for lunch and dinner, leaving you feeling full, even though you are naturally consuming less calories per day than before. Furthermore, fasting helps to improve insulin sensitivity, burns “stubborn fat” areas more easily (lower abdominal, upper thighs/arms in women)source, optimizes fat-burning hormones and metabolic pathways, among other benefits.

You may notice hunger pangs in the morning from skipping breakfast. Don’t worry, these will go away after two weeks or so. Your body is like a spoiled child at the check-out of a grocery store. If the parent buckles and buys the kid a candy bar every time they cry, the child will learn to cry to receive their sugary treat. If the parent ignores the child’s wailing, they will quickly learn that crying won’t get them a candy bar, and will eventually give up.

Every single person that I’ve recommended intermittent fasting to has seen positive results from trying it. So could you, if you gave it a try.

I’ve written more in depth on intermittent fasting here, I recommend you give it a read, especially if you work out regularly.

In rationalizing our farm surpluses into assets, we deceive no one but ourselves. Leaders abroad are not deceived by what we say; they see clearly that we have been making our foreign economic policy fit our internal convenience.-Theodore Schultz (1960)

Upon hearing of a disaster on the other side of the globe, millions of Americans donate to charities voluntarily.

Would you respond with a trip to the grocery store to purchase food to send to those in the region? Likely not. It would be costly, take too long to reach those in need, and risk spoilage while transported.

Yet that’s the approach our food aid program has taken since July 10th, 1954: when the United States enacted Public Law 480 to establish foreign food aid program that would dominate the world in tonnage for the next fifty years. Passed after the Korean War, the United States Government was keen on weaponizing the embarrassing agricultural overproduction, caused by a plethora farm price support programs, against the Soviet Union as a foreign policy tool.

PL-480’s attempt to garner political support from farmers, and it’s design as a geopolitical bargaining chip came at a cost of the program’s humanitarian efficacy. These competing interests fostered a status quo in the United States for the international food aid program to be exploited for greed — charity in name only.

Agriculture markets prior to aid

While simplified in relation to the intricacies of the real world, a Marshall diagram helps to understand the economic effects of food aid in the aggregate. To the right I’ve included a diagram of the maize market in an impoverished region.

The first observation of note is the inelasticity of domestic demand for food. Secondly, the world price level (Wp) of food is below the autarky intersection of the demand & supply lines. Domestic producers earn income by supplying quantities “X” + “Y” to the local market.

The competitive advantage of domestic farmers lies within their lower transportation costs, and ability to focus on the most productive land available. This enables local producers to “beat” the world price in regional markets. Quantity “Z” of maize is imported into the local market. Producer surplus is equal to the area above the supply curve (Sd) and below the dotted world price level (Wp).

Agriculture markets with food aid

Let us now examine the effects of an influx of food aid. Upon receiving the aid, the dotted line representing the world price (Wp) now shifts to the heavier line (Wpfa). Essentially, the world price for maize up to donated quantity “A” of food aid is provided at a price of $0 — with quantities past “A” being provided at the previous world price level (Wp). This leaves farmers to produce the quantity of food found in region “Y”. Region “Z” is still imported as it was before.

However, while local farmers could previously supply “X” + “Y” food to the marketplace, the opportunity offered by region “X” has been displaced by food aid flooding the local markets.

This results in a loss of income to farmers displayed by the shaded area “I”. Farmers are not simply an afterthought: 75% of the world’s impoverished live in rural areas, and of that number, 86% rely on agriculture as their primary source of income[World Bank Development Report, 2008]

It’s important to note that agriculture is not a fluid market with costless entry & exit of labor. It takes time (often generations) for herds to be bred, production techniques to be refined, development of arable land, and capital to be invested into equipment.

Exporting food aid into a region over a long-term reduces local incomes and the local supply of experienced farm labor diminishes. This results in a societal reliance on receiving food aid in the future. While it may be a counter-intuitive at first, providing long-term food aid results in the unintended consequence of increasing structural food insecurityof the region.

Food aid in response to temporary shortages

It’s important to note that food aid can still be a useful tool to counteract temporary shortages in domestically food from flooding, war, pests, plant-disease, etc.

The shortage that arises between the quantity of food supplied and quantity of food required for a population to survive is often referred to in economic literature as the “food gap”. It is possible to bridge this gap by providing food aid to those in need; counteracting the shortages in the local markets with minimal negative impacts on producers. However, disincentive effects can still arise if the quantity of food aid provided exceeds the loss of production from the catastrophe.

Let’s now examine how the predictions of our theoretical model compare to the observed effects of food aid found in the real world. A 2006 study conducted by Cynthia Donovan drew attention to conditions leading to food aid causing the strongest negative effects on local markets:

Food Aid distributed near or during time of local harvests. Long-term distribution of food aid falls into this category.

Poor commodity targeting implemented: individuals are most likely to substitute away from local food to supplied aid if the commodity provided is similar to locally grown crops.

Larger quantities of external food aid result in larger negative income effects for the region.

Historical example

Maize is Swaziland’s primary crop, grown by over 90% of small-scale farmers in the region. More than 80% of the food aid received by Swaziland from 1990-2003 was delivered in the form of maize grains — 42% of this aid was provided by the United States.

As a result of food aid creating a glut of maize in the local markets, the National Maize Corporation of Swaziland’s silos were so overfilled that they were unable to purchase any maize from local farmers between 2002-2004, resulting in considerable lost income to the domestic population. Remember, food aid should be supplied judiciously to alleviate production shortages, not as a long-term market distortion.

Moving forward

How can we fix our program to ensure that those in need receive food without reducing the incomes of farmers in the region? One proposed solution is to purchase and provide locally grown food — fighting malnourishment without the negative income effects for producers.

Political Corruption
Reforms were proposed in 2013 that would allow USAID (the primary foreign aid organization of the United States) to procure up to half of all food aid regionally. This would not only avoid the disincentive effects on producers, but would also help to reduce emergency response times & transportation costs. Currently, USAID spends 49% of it’s budget just on the transportation of food aid. The average time for the arrival of urgent food aid shipped from the United States is 130 days. Using regional/local procurement this could be reduced to an estimated average arrival time of 56 days.

On November 6th, 2013 the bill was put to a vote in the House of Representatives: the vote failed 203-220. This was not the result of political gridlock — Republican and Democrat votes split relatively evenly on the reform. The defeat was also clearly not in the best interests of those receive the aid, but it was beneficial to those who are in the business of shipping the aid, who underwent a determined lobbying campaign against the reform. House Representatives who received a donation of more than $10,000 each from AFL-Transportation Trades (a maritime union) or USAMaritime (lobbying agency of maritime unions & shipping companies) voted against the bill at a rate of seven to one.

The spending levels of our food aid program has settled between two important milestones: large enough to attract special interests intent on political rent-seeking, while still too small and relatively complex for it’s inefficiencies to be aired on the evening news. This, unfortunately, means that lobbying results in flagrant inefficiencies that are unlikely to bring about negative consequences at the polls for government representatives devoid of moral integrity.

Domestic Vessel Mandate
Mandating domestically sourced crops is not the only problem of the USAID program, however. Current cargo preference law requires that 50% of all donated food aid must be shipped on US-owned vessels that are operated by a crew comprised entirely of United States citizens. Eliminating this requirement and shipping goods on any available vessel would save an estimated $50 million per year: enabling the United States to feed more people in need, more quickly, at a lower cost to taxpayers.

The given rationale for the cargo preference requirement is for the United States to have skilled seamen on hand for times of war. However the United States is already the world’s overwhelmingly dominant oceanic force: of the 14 naval supercarriers in existence, 12 are owned by the United States. Furthermore, a 2010 study by Elizabeth Bageant found that 70% of the subsidized vessels are not militarily useful, and there have been no service calls for seamen from food aid vessels since PL-480 was enacted in 1954.

Regardless, these requirements provide an annual subsidy roughly equal to $100,000 per merchant mariner. Additionally, the vessels that could actually be useful for naval engagements are able to “double-dip” into federal subsidies: receiving a $2.5 million direct payment for each vessel per year in accordance with the 1996 Maritime Security Program. This defensive rationale is national security in name only, in reality it’s simply one more subsidy to our domestic shipping industry.

Fun Fact: US-Flagged food aid ships are colloquially referred to as “gravy boats” by maritime terminals — in reference to the cargo’s unusually high charged freight rates and margins as a result of lessened competition

Role of Non-Profits
Corporate greed is not the only culprit for the inefficiencies of United States food aid programs. Currently, a minimum of 15% of all USAID program food aid is required to be under “monetization” by charities and NGO’s.

The basic procedure is this: commodities are purchased domestically by the United States government, (a minimum of) 15% of which are given free of charge to these voluntary groups who then turn and dump the goods on developing countries below market prices to fund their various programs. The Government Accountability Office predicts that this “inherently inefficient” system of monetization completely wastes 25 cents of every taxpayer dollar spent, and that’s not even considering the negative effects on the developing agricultural markets.

In summary, our food aid policy is designed for domestic interest groups moreso than the world’s impoverished. Christopher Barrett aptly describes the “iron triangle” of special interests enforcing the status quo of food aid program inefficiency in the United States:

The producers/processors who sell surpluses to USAID

The shipping industry which benefits from a hefty transportation budget

NGOs who monetize food aid for additional funding. Only 40 cents of every dollar spent on international food aid is used to purchase the food needed — with the rest being spent on administration and transport costs.

These conflicting goals within our foreign food aid program have corrupted what was once a simple adage into:

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a starving man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Vote to ship a man a fish, and you can grant lucrative transport contracts in exchange for campaign kickbacks.